13 weeks, 2.3#

Kai is steadily gaining about 2-3 oz every week and charts at 4.5# by the time he's full grown.  Ke'o, on the other hand, has ballooned to a whopping 7#.  He's still within breed standard, but he definitely needs to lose weight.

As of Monday, the pups were still sniffling, with no sign of improvement so I took them back to the vet.  Dr. Melissa switched their meds to Clavamax (amoxicillin) so we should be seeing improvement in the next couple of days and definitely by the end of the week.

12 weeks old and 2.115 lbs

Kai is 12 weeks old today, which means that he gets another round of vaccinations.  Unfortunately, both dogs seem to have caught the same upper respiratory infection and are now on antibiotics, so no vaccinations for the baby until he gets better.  Their sneezing and snoring are endearing and pathetic at the same time, but I can't help but feel sorry for the little dudes.

Some highlights (or low lights, depending on how you look at it) from this week:

• Kai is now sleeping in his crate overnight and is learning to hold it until the morning.  I think I'll bring his crate upstairs this weekend and see how that goes.
• Potty training is progressing, although it seems that we've taken a step back this week.  Kai is playing with his weewee pad, rather than going on it so there are times when I have to watch where I step in the kitchen.
• Kai's confidence has increased tremendously since we brought him home.  For about a week and a half, I was able to take him outside without a lead so that he could go potty.  He'd stay really close by me and not wander off.  It's a different story now.  Kai easily and quite confidently walks away from me, but does come back when called.

Here we go again

 

Oh, brother.  We don't have a name for him yet, but "Kai" is the strong front runner at this point.  We picked up Kai on Labor Day from the same breeder who gave us Keo in February 2010.  At 10 weeks old, Kai weighed in at 1.67 lbs.

Kai's personality is very sweet.  When he's startled or unsure of the situation, he'll sit down and observe, or if he's really unsure, he'll park himself between my feet and sit down.  I guess he knows who will protect him if something bad happens.  He's showing really strong signs of bonding to me already that I find I don't need much of a leash on Kai when I take him outside to go potty. He'll do his business and will follow me when he's finished.  Unfortunately, he hasn't gotten the hang of sitting at the front door and waiting to be invited inside yet, but he's young and we'll continue to work on it.  Kai also walks really well on a leash, but gets a little carried away when big brother Keo tries to talk charge of the pack walk.

Keo has had good days and not-so good days this week.  There are times when both dogs have played extremely well together, but more often than not, Keo is showing Kai exactly where the newest dog belongs in the pack order (i.e the bottom).  It was nerve-wracking to watch them play at first, especially since Kai would yelp or cry the first couple of times Keo pushed him around.  Now, they play with each other - a lot of play biting (by Kai) and dominating (by Keo) - but I still have to intervene when it gets a little too rough for my comfort level.  Keo has also started exhibiting guarding behavior, primarily of items that are food treats or things he's not supposed to have.  He has snarled and snapped at both Toby and me several times over the past several weeks, well before Kai entered our lives.  He's definitely going through his terrible twos (he's turning two in December!).  Whatever possessed me into thinking that getting a new puppy right now would be a GREAT idea??  So now we have the joys of potty training Kai, teaching him manners, and reinforcing good manners for Keo.  In the meantime, the Dog Whisperer is set to record on the DVR every Friday.  I wonder if Cesar Milan would travel up north?

Some highlights from this past week included Kai doing the following:

• Learning to climb stairs on Wednesday, after watching Keo run up a set of stairs at Meadowbrook Pond.
• Learning to go down stairs on Friday, mostly successfully, but oftentimes just falling after the first step.
• Sounding like a howler monkey or a parrot when he cries in the afternoon.  It's pathetic and endearing, but he only does it when we're not around.
• potty training is going really well!!

Norma Guerrero LaCara, May 17, 1935 - August 5, 2011

A week ago, my Aunt Norma passed away at her home, surrounded by her children and grandchildren.  She was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme in late March and was given a prognosis of 6-8 weeks.  According to Wikipedia, glioblastoma has the worst prognosis of any central nervous system malignancy, despite the many modes of treatment.  And, while the general prognosis is poor, with a median survival rate of approximately 14 months, Norma exceeded her prognosis by over two months.  


In the time between her diagnosis and death, several songs and prayers have provided solace and comfort to me.  One song, in particular, I listened to often and sang to my Aunt in her last days with us.  It's called "Lord of all hopefulness" by Jan Struther


Lord of All Hopefulness
lyrics: Jan Struther, 1901-1953

Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy,
Whose trust, ever childlike, no cares can destroy,
Be there at our waking, and give us, we pray,
Your bliss in our hearts, Lord, at the break of the day.

Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith,
Whose strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe,
Be there at our labors, and give us, we pray,
Your strength in our hearts, Lord at the noon of the day.

Lord of all kindliness, Lord of all grace,
Your hands swift to welcome, your arms to embrace,
Be there at our homing, and give us, we pray,
Your love in our hearts, Lord, at the eve of the day.

Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm,
Whose voice is contentment, whose presence is balm,
Be there at our sleeping, and give us, we pray,
Your peace in our hearts, Lord, at the end of the day.


One of my Aunt's last gifts to us was bringing our family back together after years of separation, and I'll forever be grateful to her for that.  I love you and miss you, Auntie Norma.  Rest in eternal peace.

Life altering event

16 July 2010

Ke'o is now just a little over 7 months old and the past 5 months have really flown by.  I'm disappointed with myself for not being more diligent about documenting his progress lately, but it is, as they say, better late than never.

Ke'o and I completed a 9 week basic obedience course, which he passed...by one point.  I'm still a proud momma, though.  He's learned how to sit, lie down, stay, come, shake hands, high-five, roll-over, bring it (fetch) and leave it.  I'm such a proud momma :)

Today, I took Ke'o to the vet to get neutered, microchipped, and have his remaining puppy teeth removed.  I was wracked with guilt and anxiety as I waited for the vet to finish with his procedure.  I felt horrible for putting my sweet little guy through pain and resulting discomfort.  It felt unfair... why should I be the one to decide whether or not his genetic material gets passed on?  I felt a growing knot form in the pit of my stomach.  I started to hyperventilate.  I cried.  I felt ridiculous.

It's been a rough day.  For him, more than me, I daresay, but he can't talk so I'll speak for us both.  He isn't sitting or lying down for more than 45 minutes, probably because the pressure that sitting or lying down puts on that area is causing him major discomfort.  So, he ends up standing.  I've never seen a dog fall asleep standing up, but I think I may tonight.

The biggest guilt inducing trigger for me right now is when Ke'o looks at me with his sad, sad eyes as if to ask me "What happened to me?  Why does my body hurt?  I don't understand what's going on..."  Proud momma?  Not so much today.

Puppy gets a name

My name is Kahuna Ke'o Li'i.  But you can call me Ke'o for short.

Ke'o continually surprises us with how smart (and manipulative) he can be.  He's learned to climb stairs, but we're still working on going down stairs.  He can go down two or three stairs, at the most, without one of us having to help or carry him.  Ke'o seems to have found his "voice" also and surprised both himself and me when he barked for the first time this week.  Fortunately, he uses his voice fairly judiciously in play or to alert us that he's p-o'd about something.  He hasn't barked at anything else, like the front door opening or at people walking by or at cars driving on the road.  That alone makes me feel that he's a pretty special dog.

 

Puppy's first play date

Yesterday we went to our friends' house for a puppy play date with this guy:

Now, the very idea of my 2.2 lb, 11 week old puppy playing with a 75+ lb, 2 year old German Shepherd did give me some cause for concern for a minute or two, but Blitz (the German Shepherd) is such a well behaved dog.  He's probably the most calm and gentle 2 y/o large breed I've seen and that speaks volumes about how well his people, Dan and Karin, have trained him.  In fact, they're two of my biggest role models in how to raise Puppy right. 

Introducing dogs, especially ones that are so mis-matched like these two, can be over-stimulating for both dogs.  Puppy was shaking and clingy for the first few minutes while Blitz checked him out and settled down from all the excitement.  But once he got down on the floor, Puppy held his own and played well with the big dog, even egging on Blitz to annoyance.  3 hours later and this is what I got...

He slept this way the entire ride home, completely oblivious to the world.  When we got home, he stumbled out of his crate, went straight to his bed and fell right back to sleep.

And he wasn't the only one.

It was SO nice to have a quiet house for a few hours!

The first 48 hours

Hi!  You will love me.  Resistance is futile. 

We're now on day 3 with our newest family member (name to be determined this weekend).  So far, I feel more and more confident that I chose the right dog.  I did a lot of research, bordering on obsession, on which breed would be best for our lifestyle and energy level, as well as how to choose the right puppy. 

After a series of temperment tests, I chose this puppy out of a litter of 4.  He showed little to no signs of dominance, no signs of resource guarding, no mouthiness, and accepted my leadership and corrections immediately.  He was also the biggest of his litter, so I'm hoping he'll be bigger than the standard 4-6 lb Pomeranian.  He seemed naturally curious and confident, but looked to me for approval.  Too good to be true?  Maybe. 

A lot of people complain that Poms are hyper, yappy, and neurotic.  What people forget is that when we get dogs as puppies, they're a blank slate and so any bad behaviors they exhibit should have been corrected by their humans early on.  Dogs aren't bad or neurotic by nature.  We humans make them that way by letting them get away with naughty or dominating behavior and lack of proper socialization.  It's easier to make these mistakes with smaller breeds because we think their mannerisms are cute.  But the same mannerisms, such as jumping or excessive barking, from a larger dog would be corrected.   I'll get down from my soap box now.

Thursday night, aka the first night with puppy, was a challenge for all of us.  He had no problem going into his crate, which I placed outside of our bedroom door.  Thinking that we'd be close enough for him to smell us or sense our presence, it would be comforting to him.  It wasn't.  He woke up 4 or 5 times during the night and cried for about 15 minutes each time before falling asleep again. 

Have you heard a puppy cry?  It's really heartbreaking. 

Now I know why Ferberizing kids can be so difficult.  It was a challenge to not only go out there to comfort the little guy, but to also try to fall asleep while he was crying.  Thankfully, we all made it through the night. 

I took him to work with me on Friday and he behaved beautifully.  Played quietly on his bed, sat on my lap or at my feet and napped for most of the day.  Maybe an exhausting night wasn't such a bad thing after all... for puppy, anyway. 

We came home and puppy napped on his bed or next to us on the couch until it was time for bed.  At bed time, he climbed right into his crate without needing a treat or a bully stick to entice him.  I moved the crate in our bedroom and placed it near enough so he could hear, see and smell us.  Hopefully, he would feel more comfort by being closer to his new pack.  I guess it worked because he didn't cry once!  either that or I slept so heavily he didn't wake me up.

Today, we're going to visit our friends, the Schwalbe-LaBelles, and have a puppy play date with their dog, Blitz.  It should be interesting to see how both dogs react to one another, considering Blitz is a 2 yo German Shepherd and is about 150 times bigger than puppy.

24 hours and counting

After a couple months of careful research and a little over a week of negotiating, I'm excited to announce that we're adding a new member to our household! Pictures of my new guy to be posted tomorrow.

Golf - new personal best

2 January 2010

I'm REALLY excited to post this. I smashed my personal best today in driving and putting. 210 yard drive and a 50ft putt on the Mountain Course at the Kona Country Club! Ok, so maybe it was probably closer to 40 but it sure as hell felt like it was 50! What an amazing feeling, though, and to have both happen in the same round of golf! I was still whooping for joy when I drove home and got some interesting looks.

Now Toby says that I can't hit from the ladies tees anymore when I play with him. We'll see about that.

New Years: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. - Mark Twain

3 January 2010

We're about to embark on the first week of the new year and there are some resolutions I've decided to make this year that I would really like to stick to -
1. Play more golf (i.e. be more active)
2. Eat more raw fruits and vegetables (i.e. eat healthier)
3. Have more patience with my loved ones (i.e. be a kinder, gentler person without being a push-over).

There - I've committed them to writing so there's no going back now. Fortunately, being here in Hawaii has afforded me a fairly good start to keeping those resolutions...even though the 3rd one is tested almost daily.

So, here's what my blog will consist of for 2010 - golf improvements and new healthy recipes that I find over time. Hopefully I'll see an improvement in my general health and weight as well!

Today's the day!

28 July 2009

We ended up signing our loan documents last night after all and the whole package was sent back to the lender for final review today (to make sure we didn't miss a signature page or anything). It'll go back to the escrow company who will then take it to the county clerk's office for recording. Once the transaction has been recorded and the title transferred to our names, we can legally call the house OURS.

Signing the loan documents took about 90 minutes to complete and by the end of the appointment, my head was swimming in legalese and dollar amounts. Plus, my hand was shaking throughout most of the process, making my signature look awful. It's a good thing the lender doesn't base its decision on one's handwriting.

We're having my family come over tonight to see the house in what will probably be the cleanest state it's going to be in for a loooong time. We've also invited our friends over tomorrow night for a celebratory toast. Tom, Karen and Doug have done an amazing job keeping this process on track, even with the hiccup we experienced with the appraiser, and we're thankful for the expertise they shared with us during our home buying adventure!

WELCOME HOME!

Another Delay

27 July 2009.

Today was supposed to be our original close date but some things have transpired that prevented us from getting our keys today. The appraisal report came back on Friday afternoon and was sent to the underwriter for review. Because the paper work was received so late on Friday, it won't be sent to the escrow office until Monday afternoon (today). So, the hope is that we'll sign our papers late this afternoon, the lender will get them back on Tuesday morning for final approval and release the funds to the escrow company, the escrow company will disburse the funds and send the title off to the county clerk's office. Hopefully, this will all happen before 2:00pm on Tuesday, which is when the clerk's office stops recording transactions for the day. If all goes well, we'll get our keys on Tuesday afternoon!

Bump in the road

22 July 2009
In home buying, there are a lot of variables that have the potential to slow down the process. We've been fortunate so far to have experienced almost no slow down whatsoever...until today.

There's a new rule that prohibits the lender from having direct contact with the home appraiser that everyone is getting used to in real estate. It makes sense to me, considering that there were lenders who were pressuring appraisers to appraise homes at certain values (usually over-inflating the price of the home). This predatory practice is one of many that led to our current economic state. So now we've got a bunch of rules that should prevent predatory lending practices and helps home-buyers from getting in over their heads.

However, it seems to me that even with all these new checks and balances imposed on the home buying process, the greatest potential for failure is with the appraisal and the turn around time it takes for the appraisal report to come in. I've heard a few anecdotal reports of appraisers under-appraising homes by less than 1-2% of the purchase price of the home, which only serves to slow down the process. The other point of failure is the lack of an enforced turn around time for an appraisal report to be submitted to the lender. The norm is 2-3 days after the appraiser inspects a home. In our case, we're now going on day 5 and THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT... except to light a candle and pray to St. Joseph the Carpenter (patron saint of real estate) for this deal to close! The management company said that they would send the report by close of business yesterday and didn't come through. Now they're saying we'll have it today.

So what does this mean? Well, we were supposed to sign our loan documents tomorrow so we could close next Monday. That appointment has now been cancelled and we're looking at signing on Friday evening, maybe next Monday; and closing on Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm hoping St. Joe will help us out here.

Meet the Neighbors

10 July 2009

We met some of our new neighbors today - Matt, who lives across the street; and Matt and Debbie, who share the easement with us. This photo was taken by across-the-street Matt. :)

Locked-In (the rate, that is)

9 July 2009

Today we locked in at a rate for our mortgage loan and ordered the appraisal for the house. We're obviously disppointed that the rates have gone up from their all time low at 4.75%, but we're still getting a fantastic rate. We also had to finalize how much down payment we were going to put towards the house, and, I have to admit the number makes my stomach do a little flip. A co-worker helped me to re-frame the stress as something more positive. She advised that even though the money was coming out of one asset, it's going right back into another asset. Therefore, the money isn't a debit. It's reassigned to a different asset. Thinking of it that way makes me feel better, for sure.

We're now done with the intense period of negotiating with the seller and figuring out the financing. Now it's all up to the lender and the underwriter to approve the loan based on the appraisal and our paper work. It's out of our hands now, which is scary and intimidating for someone like me who wants to know exactly what's going on and why. It's also frustrating to feel helpless, to not be able to do anything more to convince the lender that we're responsible people who aren't going to default on our home loan. I just take several deep breaths (being careful not hyperventilate) and try not to worry about it.

What's next? If the appraisal goes according to plan and the loan goes through, we'll sign the documents on July 23rd and get the keys on the 27th. And, there's the small issue of packing up and organizing our belongings (which neither Toby and I have found the energy to begin). I'm leaving for a band trip to Scotland the week after we move in, so I need to keep track of my gear and make sure we don't accidentally put my drum and sticks in the attic. :-)

Appraisal time

8 July 2009
We submitted our Inspection Response this evening to the seller and, let me tell you, there's nothing like working with a motivated seller. We finished writing up the paperwork at 7:30pm and at 8:45pm, we received a call from Tom saying that the seller accepted our conditions. For all intents and purposes, we've bought ourselves a house! We'll place an order for the appraisal tomorrow morning and then it's on to Closing Day.

One thing that annoys me is watching HGTV shows like "Property Virgins" and "House Hunters". There must be a lot of TV magic that happens on those shows because we had to sign and initial a bunch more paperwork than those people ever do. "My First Place" is a little more accurate, but it annoys me how these shows imply that you can buy homes in a couple of days. We're moving really quickly, it seems, but even then it's taking us about a month to close!

One step closer

7 July 2009


We finished our home inspection today and got one suprise result. There seems to be a leak from the upstairs master bath that needs to be investigated further, but otherwise the house is in good condition with no major issues (i.e. repairs costing more than $1000). It feels like this house is too good to be true at times. We're now waiting for the inspection report to come in from the engineer and we'll meet with Tom tomorrow to write up our response. Seller has two days to respond and we have two days to respond to them. In the meantime, we will schedule an appraisal for next week and hopefully we won't run into any snags there either.

Wow! That was fast!

3 July 2009
This has been a very eventful week so far. On Sunday, June 28th, we went to an open house and toured a home that was listed by Tom and Karen Jurewicz. Tom and Karen sold my parents' home in Rainier Valley a few years ago, as well as my sister's homes in Queen Anne, Greenwood, Greenlake, and West Seattle, her in-laws' house in Edmonds, and her sister-in-law's in Pinehurst. Needless to say, they've all been really happy with Tom and Karen and it was a pleasant suprise to go to their open house. Right off the bat, I LOVED the house. Sure, there were some things that could have been better - the parking situation (one car garage) and lack of a back yard, but nothing we couldn't learn to live with. Toby wasn't 100% sold on it, of course, and needed a day to think about it. We know there's an offer on the house, also, but of course, they couldn't tell us the specifics.

I know I sometimes complain about this particular characteristic of his, but really I'm grateful for it. He's talked me out of some impulse buys in the past and while I had been grumpy about it at first, I know that he was really looking out for my best interest.

Monday, June 29th, Toby says the house is growing on him and wants to see it again. Tom and Karen show us a couple of other properties with similar square footage, price, and location before going back to the one we saw the day before and it became clear to us that the house was the best one we'd seen in months of searching. T&K mentioned that the offer on the house fell through and to give this house some really deep thought (and not to stress out about it). *Right*

Tuesday, July 30 - more thinking, debating on whether or not we'd see anything better come up in the inventory. Finally, we decided to make an offer on the house.

Wednesday, July 1
1:00pm. We met up with Tom at the ReMax office on Eastlake to write up our offer. We decided to offer what we thought was fair market value, with a closing date of July 27th, and asked the seller to respond by 9:00pm that evening.

3:00pm. Took Toby to Urgent Care to get meds for his sinuses and congestion. Poor guy...physically, he feels really tired and generally miserable with his respiratory condition. The doctor thinks it's allergies and prescribed basically Flo-Nase and Zirtec. He's still not 100% better, but at least he's not feeling like he's dead tired any more.

5:45pm. Noticed a missed call from Tom. I forgot I don't get cell reception in hospitals. Ack!

6:00pm. I'm standing in line at the check-out counter at Safeway when Tom returns my call. He says that the sellers signed the offer outright - no changes to the offer letter and will send me the mutually agreed purchase and sale agreement in the morning! He says that they considered countering the offer, but the timing was too good for them to pass up and the reasons for our asking price were justifiable.

So, now we're under contract to buy a house!!! We have an inspection scheduled for Tuesday, July 7th, at 11:00am, at which point I'll post pictures of the house. I also got an email from our mortgage broker saying that he's sending us our pre-approval letter today.

A friend of mine says that major events happen in 3's and wonders what my 3rd will be. New Band, New House, New ????. Frankly I don't think I need a 3rd event - it's all so overwhelming as it is!!

Adventures in house hunting and other news

24 June 2009

Toby and I are about to join the ranks of home-owners in America! We started the process last month by meeting with a mortgage lender (Coulombe and Evered) to get our pre-approval letter. We've managed to save a hefty down payment by managing an apartment building for the past 5 years and being able to save our monthly rent. Next week, we're supposed to get our approval letter in hand and then we start some serious house hunting. We're looking just about anywhere north of the ship canal bridge and south of 145th St, but really, we're open to anything... including Shoreline and Lake Forest Park.



In other news, after 13 years with the Keith Highlanders Pipe Band, I joined the Grade 2 New Westminster Police Pipe Band, formerly the Maple Ridge Pipe Band. It was a difficult decision to make, but ultimately, I needed to be in a band whose politics didn't affect me closely. Some friendships were lost in this move, but the ones that were worth keeping remain - for which I am entirely grateful. The picture on the left is my new tartan - the Ancient Weathered MacPherson. It's rather pretty, imho. :) My first competition with the band will be July 11th, at the Skagit Valley Highland Games in Mt. Vernon, WA. A couple more competitions and we're off to Scotland to compete in the World Pipe Band Championships in August!